Thursday, January 7, 2016

Blood of the Wolf

Blood of the Wolf

*

*

*

A few of issues ago, this publication praised the new album from Chicago extreme metal band Blood of the Wolf. This publication gave “I: The Law of Retaliation” high praise, but at the same time did not provide a whole lot of information about the background of the band because it was not available to this zine. Now it’s time to rectify this problem. Let’s find out more about the band. The guitarist “Iron” Mike put down his guitar for a few and responded to these questions. Here we go, this is Blood of the Blood! Ugh!

*

*

Hello, friends. We don’t know much about your squad. Can you give us a general outline?
*

The band began in 2012 when I was playing in Kommandant. At first Blood of the Wolf wasn’t a band, just me writing songs. In late 2012 I had resigned from Kommandant. It was on good terms and I remain friends with those guys to this day. They had just become too busy with tours, fests and out of state shows and I couldn’t commit to all the dates they were doing. So, a few months later, when I had written about an album’s worth of songs, I decided I wanted to get a band going with other musicians. Some guys have come and gone, I think that’s natural in a band’s formative years. The lineup right now is Max Colunga on drums, Frank Garcia on guitar, myself (Mike Koniglio) on guitar and vocals and Brandon Waszak on bass. This is the best lineup so far in terms of musical ability and commitment to the band.

*

*

What is the situation of your band in Chicago at the moment? How do you feel about the future of your band? How can people support y’all?

*

*

We don’t have any shows or tours lined up at the moment. But it’s winter in Chicago right now and weather can be unpredictable here. It’s pretty common for bands to “take the winter off”. We’ll be back on stage in the spring and summer.

As far as merch, we have t-shirts and cds available. For $15 you can get both. That price includes shipping in the US. If you are overseas the best way to get the album is from the Bandcamp page. For pictures of the merch visit our Facebook page. This is the best way to support us; buy our album, wear our shirts and tell your friends about us. I’m sure there’s ways to get the album for free. Go get it! If you like it, buy a shirt. You can’t download those yet!

As for the future, I feel good about it. The lineup is solid, the guys are dedicated, we’ve been practicing hard and really tightening up as a band. The next time we play out I think people will be more blown away than usual. There’s also another album worth of songs written that are even better than the last! So if you liked “Law of Retaliation”, keep following us, there’s more to come, and when it comes, it will be devastating!

*

*

You play fast, but the songs are memorable. How does one master the art of playing extreme metal really fast and really well, and then making it so that people can remember the songs?

*

*

First of all, thank you for that compliment. I take that as high praise.

I think good songwriting is a gift. You either have it or you don’t. Some people have the gift and are still better at it than others. I also think it takes time and experience for your songwriting sensibilities to grow and mature. So in some ways, yes, it does take years to master. Some people can spend years and not master songwriting. There’s got to be an innate sense, to start with, of what makes a good song. I think that’s my strength. I also think “mastery” is a journey, not a destination. I’ll always continue to grow musically and listen to what other metal bands are doing and be influenced by the sounds that I like. Ultimately what I do is write the metal that I want to hear. Simply put that is the objective of this band.

*

*

Blood of the Wolf members are in other bands, but it’s not clear what that relation is. Will you please explain?

*

*

Max and Frank are in other bands. Max plays drums in Disinter, the Chicago death metal legends. I’m glad he plays with them. It keeps his skills up. I think he’s actually improved with us because he’s playing with them as well. Frank plays guitar in a band called Asphyxiator. They’re more of a brutal, slam-death band: very different from Blood of the Wolf. For Brandon and I, it’s just Blood of the Wolf. I’m a one-band type of guy. A real rarity in this scene! This is my band and to quote Jim Bresnahan of Kommandant, “I’m going down with the ship.”

*

*

Thank you for your time and music.

*

*

Thanks for your review and positive words! Keep following us, keep supporting us, keep listening to the album and stay tuned for the next one-I promise you will not be disappointed!!!